Access to English: Literature is a textbook for the five-hour course in English Literature and Culture ("Engelskspråklig litteratur og kultur – programfag i studiespesialiserende utdanningsprogram"), to be taken in the third year of upper secondary school.

To the teacher:

Welcome to the revised edition of Access to English: Literature. If you have used the first edition, then there is much you will recognise here. The structure of the book is basically unchanged. Many of the classic texts have been kept, while some have been replaced by other equally classic ones, for the sake of either variation or balance. The chapter that is most changed is, naturally enough, the last one: “Contemporary Literature”. In addition to choosing new, recent texts, we have endeavoured to give the chapter the same treatment as the earlier ones – i.e. focusing on some central literary trends of the period.

Another new feature of this revised edition is the six-part course called “Across the Arts”, which aims to give students a more structured approach to the “culture” part of the course than was provided in the first edition. Architecture, painting, music and design are some of the forms of expression we feature, focusing on typical examples and drawing parallels to literature from the same period. We believe that “Across the Arts” will be a welcome variation for the students and a useful tool for getting to grips with literary history.

All the texts in the book are recorded and there is a website which offers further materials and useful links. As we all know, the web can be an invaluable resource – and a hopeless timewaster. We have done our best to help you make it the former rather than the latter!

To the student:

Welcome to an exciting year in which you will be cherry-picking some of the finest literature in the English language! The fact that you have chosen to take this particular English course means that you have already discovered that reading literature is interesting, exciting and fun. This year, in addition to reading literature from the present day, you will have the chance to become acquainted with some of the best writers of the English language over the last four centuries. These writers are people who have influenced the way you think, even if you have never heard of them. They have helped to shape the culture we share and they continue to influence it today through the literature they have left us. So we will be asking you to treat their works not as museum exhibits from a bygone age, but as living expressions that continue to resonate down the centuries.

We can’t gather William Shakespeare, Benjamin Franklin and Virginia Woolf around a table and hear them talk, but we can put them within the covers of the same book and let their writing “converse” across the centuries. By listening closely to this conversation we can learn how attitudes and sensibilities have changed, and also – perhaps more importantly – how much the human spirit has remained the same. One of the joys of reading older literature is the shock of recognition. These texts are about us! – about how wonderful, awful, hilarious and tragic it is to be a human being. Now what could be more important than that?

While literature will be the main focus, it is worth remembering that the trends and traditions that shaped English literature have also shaped other forms of artistic expression. The course curriculum takes this into account in the title “English Literature and Culture”. We will therefore be inviting you to listen to music and look at works of art, at buildings and landscape gardens, both with a view to finding parallels to the literary texts and for the sheer enjoyment it gives.

This year you will not only be reading literature – you will also be talking and writing about it. In fact, it will be your ability to do these two things that will decide your grade at the end of the year. Writing about literature is an art that has to be learned. Access to English: Literature will help you to do this. It includes a writing course that will equip you with what you need to get the most out of your essay writing. We also give you hints on how to improve your oral presentations.

We firmly believe that this book is a treasure chest of wisdom, pleasure and fun. Putting it together has been a rewarding experience and we hope opening it will be too.